BENGALS PRESIDENT MIKE BROWN ENCOURAGED BY LATEST TALKS

Bengals President Mike Brown was reportedly "encouraged"
after Cincinnati-area business leaders and politicians met with
OH Gov. George Voinovich on Tuesday. The state of OH reportedly
has pledged a "significant influx of money" to build separate
football and baseball stadiums in Cincinnati. Brown: "It's been
a long, long time getting to this point. I feel tremendous
progress has been made" (Gordon Forbes, USA TODAY, 6/15). In
Baltimore, however, Jon Morgan writes that a Cincinnati city
councilman declared the Bengals situation "critical" and
predicted that the team could become the Baltimore Bengals
"within days." Brown visited Baltimore last week and is
reportedly "serious about moving [the team] to Baltimore, and
wouldn't have come if he weren't" (Baltimore SUN, 6/15).